Game with reward for attaining a plurality of qualifying results

ABSTRACT

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for rewarding a player for attaining a plurality of qualifying hands of cards in a game. The systems, apparatuses and methods may include reading an identity of each of a plurality of cards dispensed from a card dispensing device and assigned to a player, the plurality of cards forming a plurality of card hands, determining whether each of the card hands is a qualifying card hand, storing an indicator of qualifying card hands received by the player in association with the player, and rewarding the player if a predefined plurality of the qualifying card hands are associated with the player.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to systems, apparatuses, and methodsfor rewarding a player of a table game. The systems, apparatuses, andmethods may be based on the player receiving or attaining a plurality ofqualifying results that include qualifying hands of cards.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Gaming facilities, such as casinos, often reward or compensate playerswho play their games and base the rewards on the amount the playerplays. Various techniques have been developed for ascertaining theamount a player plays, from manual viewing and record keeping toelectronic monitoring.

Advances in gaming technology have made it possible to ascertain thecomposition of hands for players at gaming tables, whether the cards areelectronically generated virtual cards or traditional cards printed oncard material. Thus, it may now be possible to reward one or moreplayers based on the composition of hands they receive playing one ormore card games and there may be a need in the gaming industry forsystems, apparatuses, and methods for rewarding players based on thecomposition of multiple card hands they receive over time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, systems, methods and apparatuses that reward players basedon the composition of their hands are provided herein.

In accordance with one embodiment, a method of providing a reward forachieving a plurality of qualifying hands of cards is provided. Thatmethod includes reading an identity of each of a plurality of cardsdispensed from a card dispensing device and assigned to a player, theplurality of cards forming a plurality of card hands. That method alsoincludes determining whether each of the card hands is a qualifying cardhand, storing an indicator of qualifying card hands received by theplayer in association with the player, and rewarding the player if apredefined plurality of the qualifying card hands are associated withthe player.

In another embodiment, a method of storing an outcome of a plurality ofhands of cards and rewarding a player for receiving a plurality ofqualifying hands is provided. That method includes determining whethereach of a plurality of hands of cards dealt to a player comprises one ofa plurality of qualifying hands of cards, associating each qualifyinghand of cards with the player, and providing a reward to the player ifthe player receives a predefined plurality of qualifying hands of cards.

Each of those methods may be set forth in instructions stored on acomputer readable medium that, when executed by a processor, perform themethods.

In other embodiments, apparatuses and systems are provided that includea processor having instructions which, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to determine whether each of a plurality of hands ofcards dealt to a player comprises one of a plurality of qualifyinghands, associate each qualifying hand with the player, and provide areward to the player if the player receives a predefined plurality ofqualifying hands.

In yet other embodiments, apparatuses and systems are provided thatinclude a card dispensing device, a card reader to sense informationfrom each of a plurality of cards dispensed from the card dispensingdevice, a player identification reader to sense information regarding aplayer, and a processor coupled to the card reader and the playeridentification reader. The processor in that embodiment includesinstructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto determine, from the information sensed by the card reader, anidentity of each of the plurality of cards dispensed from the carddispensing device and dealt to the player, resolve the composition ofeach of a plurality of hands of cards formed from the plurality of cardsdealt to the player, determine, from the information sensed by theplayer identification reader, an identity of the player, associate eachof the plurality of hands of cards with the identity of the player, andreward the player if the plurality of hands of cards associated with theplayer include a predefined plurality of qualifying hands.

Accordingly, the present invention provides solutions to theshortcomings of prior game reward systems, apparatuses, and methods.Those of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate, therefore,that those and other details, features, and advantages of the presentinvention will become further apparent in the following detaileddescription of the preferred embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and constitutepart of this specification, include one or more embodiments of theinvention, and together with the general description given above and adetailed description given below, serve to disclose principles ofembodiments of a reward provided in accordance with a best modecontemplated for carrying out a game with a reward for attaining aplurality of qualifying results.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a method of performing the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a table game that may be used in anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a node that may be used in anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made to embodiments of systems, methods, andapparatuses for a game with a reward for attaining a plurality ofqualifying results, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. Details, features, and advantages of the gamewill become further apparent in the following detailed description ofembodiments thereof. It is to be understood that the Figures anddescriptions included herein illustrate and describe elements that areof particular relevance to the reward, while eliminating, for purposesof clarity, other elements found in typical games, such as the tablegames with which the reward may be associated.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a method of rewarding a player forattaining a plurality of qualifying results 100. At 102, cards of a cardhand dealt or otherwise assigned to a player are read and, at 104, thecard hand is associated with the player. If the player's card handcomprises a qualifying hand, an indicator that the player received thatqualifying hand is stored, such as described below and herein, at 106.The method of 102, 104, and 106 may be repeated for the player, such asduring each of a number of rounds of game play in which the playerparticipates. In an embodiment, the player may receive and play multiplehands during one or more of the rounds, such as, for example, by playingtwo or more hands against a dealer during a round of blackjack. Thus,the player may accumulate multiple qualifying hands associated with himor her in one or multiple rounds of game play. If a predefined pluralityof qualifying hands is associated with the player, the player isrewarded by, for example, giving the player something of value, at 108.The qualifying hands may be defined by a set of winning hands, aspecified number of winning hands, or by other methods.

It should be noted that the method may be performed in an alternateorder such that, for example, the indicator that the qualifying hand wasreceived by a player may be stored prior to the hand being associatedwith the player receiving that hand.

FIG. 2 illustrates a game table 150 at which a live card game may takeplace. A dealer may be positioned in a dealer position 152 and may dealcards from a card dispensing device 154 having a card dispensing tray156. The card dispensing device may also perform card shuffling or otherdesired functions. The dealer may distribute the cards to one or moreplayers, who may each be located at one of a plurality of playerpositions 161-167, so that each player receives a card hand. Systems,apparatuses, and methods for rewarding a player for achieving aplurality of qualifying hands of cards, including the method illustratedin FIG. 1, may be employed at such a game table 150 during operation ofa live table game. It should be recognized that a player may be rewardedfor attaining a plurality of qualifying results at any game table forplaying any game, whether the game illustrated in FIG. 2 or anothergame.

The qualifying results may include one or more combinations of cardsthat comprise a hand or a subset of a hand of cards and may also bereferred to as a qualifying hand of cards. For example, traditional fivecard poker hands such as those including pairs of cards of the samerank, three and four of a kind that include three or four cards of thesame rank, five card straights of cards of sequential rank, and flushesof cards of the same suit may comprise qualifying hands. In a three cardgame, such as the game played on the layout shown in FIG. 2, suitablethree card hands may alternately be used. Those hands may be dealt orotherwise represented or assigned to players by any known means, such asby actual cards printed on card paper dealt to players by a live dealeror by virtual cards that are electronically displayed on a display by aprocessor based device such as a general purpose computer or the nodeillustrated in FIG. 3, which is described in detail below.

The hands may be formed of a plurality of cards dealt at one time, or ascards dealt in two or more phases of game play, such as in draw poker,or as cards dealt to a specific player in combination with communitycards dealt for common use by more than one player, for example. Where aplurality of cards are dealt in a game or a phase of a game, those cardsmay be dealt individually or may be dealt as hands by, for example, anAce 2™ Shuffler manufactured by Shuffle Master, Inc. of Las Vegas, Nev.The Ace 2™ Shuffler is described in detail in pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/481,407 filed Jul. 5, 2006, assigned attorneydocket number PA1449.ap.US, and entitled Card Shuffler with AdjacentCard Infeed and Card Output Compartments (“Ace 2”), which isincorporated by reference herein.

Thus, for example, in a game such as Let it Ride®, three cards may bedealt to each player and two community cards may be dealt for use by allplayer participants such that each player hand consists of the threecards dealt to that player plus the two community cards. Those cards mayall be read or identified and a determination may be made, for eachplayer, as to whether that player has a five card hand that includes aqualifying result. That determination may be made for each player duringeach round of game play. Alternatively, the reward for achieving aplurality of qualifying hands of cards may be available only for certainplayers based on any criterion desired by the casino or game purveyor.

In various embodiments of the present reward, the identities of thecards may include the rank and suit of each card, the rank only of eachcard, the suit only of each card, or the presence of a special card,which may take the form of a promotional card, a bonus card, a wildcard, and the like. Alternatively or in addition, the identities of thecards may include other information such as, for example, the identityof the deck from which each card was dealt, the casino identity,manufacturer identity, lot number, or the like. The identities of thecards that make up a hand may furthermore be referred to as thecomposition of the hand and the determination of whether those cardsinclude a qualifying set of cards may be referred to as resolving thehand. Thus the term “qualifying hand” may refer to all cards in a handor a portion of cards in a hand that form a winning or otherwisequalifying set of cards.

The identity of each card may be read in any way desired including, forexample, determining the identity of each card by capturing an image ofthe face of the card and determining the identity of the card from thatimage, identifying dark and light areas on the face of the card anddetermining the identity of the card from those dark and light areas, orreading a bar code or other data from the card that can be processed toidentify that card. Card identities may be read in a card shuffler, cardshoe, on the gaming table, or in any card dispensing device 154, or asotherwise desired.

In an embodiment, each card in a hand of cards is read in the carddispensing device 154 and then the hand of cards is dispensed into thecard dispensing device tray 156 of the card dispensing device 154. Thehand of cards is then removed from the card dispensing device tray 156,such as by the dealer, and provided to the player. The player wagers andplays out the hand as provided by the rules of the game. The reward forachieving a plurality of qualifying hands of cards may be provided tothe player in addition to other winnings achieved during game play.

Any indicator desired may be stored to indicate the qualifying hand wasreceived by the player. For example, the identity of all or a subset ofthe cards in the qualifying hand may be stored or a flag may be setindicating the qualifying hand that was received. The identity of thecards may include the rank and/or suit of each of those cards. It shouldbe recognized that all hands of cards received by the player may bestored for use in determining whether qualifying hands have beenreceived by the player and for any other use desired.

The reward may require that the player receive a plurality of differentqualifying hands or may require that the player receive a particularhand more than one time. Thus, where only one of each qualifying hand isrequired to receive the reward, only qualifying hands that have notpreviously been received by the player may be stored for that player.

In an embodiment, the reward is provided to a player that receives everywinning combination available in the game they are playing. In anotherembodiment, the reward is provided to a player that receives apredetermined subset of the winning combinations available in the game.Thus, for example, where a pair of cards is a winning combination, aplayer that receives a pair of cards of every rank may receive thereward. Multiple levels of reward may also be available, for example,for receiving various qualifying hands of different difficulty or havingdifferent odds. Moreover, the reward may be provided to a player whoreceives the qualifying hands of cards in a predetermined period of timeor at a predetermined place. For example, the player might be requiredto receive all of the hands required to qualify for the reward at asitting, in a day, in a week, or in a lifetime. Alternatively or inaddition, the player might be required to achieve the plurality ofqualifying hands of cards at a particular table, pit, casino, orfacility, to qualify for the reward.

In various embodiments, the reward is provided to a player who achievesone or more qualifying hands at each of two or more different cardgames. Games may be considered “different” if they have different rules,such as Three-Card Poker® and Let it Ride®, and/or Let it Ride® and Letit Ride Bonus®. The player may achieve the one or more qualifying handsat each different card game over one or more rounds of play of thatgame. The player may be required to play the games in a pit, casino, orgroup of participating facilities, for example, or may have norestriction on where he or she plays the games. In one embodiment, aplayer dealt a straight flush at Let it Ride and a straight flush atThree Card Poker qualifies for a reward. In another embodiment, a casinopit offers six different games and a player must achieve a qualifyinghand at each game to qualify for the reward.

In various embodiments, the reward may be provided to a player whoobtains the top hand in each different game, one of the top three handsin each different game, any winning hand in each different game, or somecombination of the aforementioned qualifying hands. Moreover, two ormore combinations of hands received at the different games may qualify aplayer for a reward or one of several rewards that are selected based onthe odds or difficulty of achieving those hands.

The storage of indicators and other information, such as describedherein, may be made on an electronic medium and may be placed in adatabase to expedite information retrieval.

The player to whom a qualifying hand of cards has been dealt may beidentified in any way desired. For example, each player participating inthe reward may be assigned a player identification device. The playeridentification device may be any device that electronically identifiesthe player so that the hands received by the player may be associated orcorrelated with the player who received those hands. For example, theplayer identification device may be a card having a bar code or amagnetic strip that identifies the player.

In one embodiment, the player identification device is an electronic keythat transmits a player identity to a player identification reader whenthe electronic key is proximate to the player identification reader. Theplayer identification device may be placed near, inserted into, orotherwise engaged with the player identification reader. In anembodiment, one player identification reader is placed at each playerposition 161-167, and each player participating in the reward forattaining a plurality of qualifying results engages his or her playeridentification device with the player identification reader whileplaying the game. For example, a player may insert a playeridentification card into a player identification card reader when he orshe occupies one of the player positions 161-167 at the game table 150.Thereafter, all qualifying hands dealt to that player position 161-167will be associated with that player. When the player leaves the playerposition 161-167, the player removes his or her player identificationcard from the player identification card reader and hands dealt to thatposition may no longer be associated with that player. Alternatively,pit personnel may input the player identity into a local computer sothat a winning hand can be associated with the player.

In another embodiment, the player identification device may be read by aplayer identification reader located at a card dispensing device 154 oralternate location near the dealer. The player identification device maybe engaged with the player identification reader by the dealer oranother person when the player receives a qualifying hand to associatethat player with the qualifying hand.

A method, system, or apparatus that provides a reward status orotherwise informs the player of the qualifying hands they have receivedmay also be provided in an embodiment of a method, system, or apparatusfor providing the reward for attaining a plurality of qualifying handsof cards. Such a method, system, or apparatus may, for example, indicatethe set of remaining qualifying hands needed to be attained by theplayer in order to complete the predefined set of qualifying handsneeded to obtain a reward. The method or apparatus may include anindication of the reward for completing the set of winning combinationswithin a specified number of hands or a specified length of time. Forexample, a display may be provided to indicate the reward status. Thereward status display may be viewable by the player so that the playerhas a continuous reminder of his or her reward status. Alternatively,the display may be viewable by the dealer who may inform the player ofhis or her reward status from time to time to enhance the excitement andanticipation of the game for players and onlookers.

The reward may be any reward desired, such as a cash reward, a free roomor meal, a souvenir, or, in an embodiment, delivery of a hand of cards,which may be of a predetermined rank and suit or, in another embodiment,may be a random set of cards dispensed by the card dispensing device154.

In another form of the game that rewards a player for attaining aplurality of qualifying results, a processor within the card dispensingdevice 154 recognizes a winning hand or other qualifying result andtransmits a corresponding signal to a printer. The printer prints asticker that may be applied to an “achievement award card” associatedwith the player who attains the qualifying result. When the player fillsthe card, i.e., acquires stickers for all of the plurality of qualifyingresults, the player may redeem the card for a prize.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a node 200. The node 200 may includememory 202, a processor 210, a storage device 212, an output device 214,an input device 216, and a communication adaptor 218. Communicationbetween the processor 210, the storage device 212, the output devicecoupling 214, the input device coupling 216, and the communicationadaptor 218 may be accomplished by way of one or more communicationbusses 220. It should be recognized that the node 200 may have fewercomponents or more components than shown in FIG. 3. For example, if auser interface is not desired, the input device 216 or output device 214may not be included with the node 200.

The memory 202 may, for example, include random access memory (RAM),dynamic RAM, and/or read only memory (ROM) (e.g., programmable ROM,erasable programmable ROM, or electronically erasable programmable ROM)and may store computer program instructions and information. The memory202 may furthermore be partitioned into sections including an operatingsystem partition 208 where system operating instructions are stored, adata partition 206 in which data is stored, and a reward partition 204in which reward operational instructions are stored. The rewardpartition 204 includes circuitry or code that performs some or all ofthe functions described herein. The reward partition 204 may storeprogram instructions and allow execution by the processor 210 of thoseprogram instructions. The data partition 206 may furthermore store datasuch as, for example, the indication of the qualifying hands received byeach player participating in the reward.

The processor 210 may, for example, be an Intel® Pentium® or Core™ typeprocessor or another processor manufactured by, for example, Motorola®,Compaq®, AMD®, or Sun Microsystems®. The processor 210 may furthermoreexecute the program instructions and process the data stored in thememory 202. In one embodiment, the instructions are stored in memory 202in a compressed and/or encrypted format. As used herein, the phrase,“executed by a processor” is intended to encompass instructions storedin a compressed and/or encrypted format, as well as instructions thatmay be compiled or installed by an installer before being executed bythe processor 210.

The storage device 212 may, for example, be non-volatile battery backedSRAM, a magnetic disk (e.g., floppy disk and hard drive), optical disk(e.g., CD-ROM) or any other device or signal that can store digitalinformation. The communication adaptor 218 permits communication betweenthe node 200 and other devices coupled to the communication adaptor 218at the communication adaptor port 222. The communication adaptor 218 maybe a network interface or, alternatively or in addition, may be coupleddirectly to one or more other devices through one or more input/outputadaptors (not shown).

The input device 216 may include a card reader, keyboard, mouse, or anycombination of input devices desired. The output device 214 may includea monitor, printer, or any combination of output devices desired. Itwill be recognized, however, that the node 200 does not necessarily needto have an input device 216 or an output device 214 to operate.Moreover, the storage device 212 may also not be necessary for operationof the node 200 as data required or desired for providing a reward to aplayer for attaining a plurality of qualifying hands may be stored inmemory, for example.

The elements 202, 210, 212, 214, 216, and 218 related to the node 200may communicate by way of one or more communication busses 220. Thosebusses 220 may include, for example, a system bus, a peripheralcomponent interface bus, or an Industry Standard Architecture bus.

The node 200 may be used to perform any or all of the rewardfunctionality described herein. For example, in one embodiment, the node200 may comprise a general purpose computer 170, which may be located ateach game table employing the method, system, or apparatus for providinga reward for players attaining a plurality of qualifying results amongcard hands, such as described herein. The general purpose computer 170may be incorporated into the card dispensing device 154 or may beseparate from or incorporated into any device desired. The generalpurpose computer 170 may be coupled through a wired or wirelessconnection to sensors, actuators, and networks as desired. Thus, in oneembodiment that may be viewed in connection with FIG. 2, the generalpurpose computer 170 is coupled to a card identification sensor 158located in the card dispensing device 154 that reads the identity ofcards prior to being dispensed from the card dispensing device 154. Thegeneral purpose computer 170 may also be coupled to playeridentification readers 171-177 located at each player position 161-167and may thus tell not only what player is playing at each playerposition 161-167, but also whether any player is playing at each playerposition 161-167. With the knowledge of the identities of the cardsbeing dealt and the players occupying the player positions 161-167, incombination with the rules of the game, and particularly the rulespertaining to the order in which cards are dealt, the general purposecomputer 170 can determine which cards are dealt to each playerposition. Thus, the general purpose computer 170 may determine thecomposition of the hand dealt to each player position 161-167 and mayassociate that hand with the player playing at each player position161-167.

In another embodiment, a single player identification reader 178 islocated at the card dispensing device 154 and the player identificationdevice of the player who attained the qualifying hand is engaged withthe player identification reader 178 to associate the qualifying handwith the player who received the qualifying hand.

The general purpose computer 170 may also store information regardingany qualifying hands received by any players or may transmit thatinformation to another node, which may be configured as described inconnection with the node 200 of FIG. 3 over a network. The network maybe any known network, such as a secure local area network (LAN), or widearea network (WAN), the Internet, or a virtual private network (VPN)operated over a public network such as the Internet.

Once the general purpose computer 170 or another networked node 200acquires data indicating the player has attained the necessary,predetermined qualifying hands, the general purpose computer 170 or node200 may automatically reward the player by, for example, adding creditto the player account, whether for a room, food, cash, or other reward.Alternatively, the general purpose computer 170 or node 200 may signalto an attendant that the player has attained the qualifying hands andthe attendant may present the player with the associated reward.

Aspects of the systems, apparatuses, and methods of implementing thegame with reward for attaining a plurality of qualifying resultsdescribed herein may also be included in processor based apparatuses,multi-processor based systems, and articles of manufacture that containinstructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor toexecute any of the reward routines described herein.

Any reference in this specification to “one embodiment,” “a certainembodiment,” or any other reference to an embodiment is intended toindicate that a particular feature, structure or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment and may be utilized in other embodiments as well. Moreover,the appearances of such terms in various places in the specification arenot necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. References to “or”are furthermore intended as inclusive so “or” may indicate one oranother of the ored terms or more than one ored term.

While the present invention has been disclosed with reference to certainembodiments, numerous modifications, alterations, and changes to thedescribed embodiments are possible without departing from the scope ofthe present invention, as defined in the appended claims. Accordingly,it is intended that the present invention not be limited to thedescribed embodiments, but that it have the full scope defined by thelanguage of the following claims, and equivalents thereof.

1. A method of providing a reward for achieving a plurality ofqualifying card hands, comprising: reading an identity of each of aplurality of cards dispensed from a card dispensing device and assignedto a player, the plurality of cards forming a plurality of card hands;determining whether each of the card hands is a qualifying card hand;storing an indicator of qualifying card hands received by the player inassociation with the player; and rewarding the player if a predefinedplurality of the qualifying card hands are associated with the player.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of qualifying card handsare dealt at a live table game.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinreading an identity of each of a plurality of cards includes determiningrank and suit of each of the plurality of cards.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the identity of each of the plurality of cards is read priorto dispensing each of the plurality of cards from a card dispensingdevice.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of cards aredispensed together from a card dispensing device and dealt to the playeras at least a part of a hand.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theassociation of each of the qualifying card hands with the playerincludes associating each of the qualifying card hands with a playeridentification device.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the playeridentification device is a player identification card.
 8. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the player identification device is associated with aposition where the player is playing.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinthe plurality of the qualifying card hands is selected from a groupconsisting of: all winning hands in a game, and at least one winninghand in a plurality of different games.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the player must have the predefined plurality of the qualifyingcard hands associated with the player in a day to be rewarded.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, wherein storing the indicator of the qualifying cardhands in association with the player includes storing the identity ofthe cards that comprise the qualifying hand.
 12. The method of claim 1,further comprising reading an identity of each of a plurality of cardsdispensed from a second card dispensing device and assigned to theplayer, the plurality of cards forming a second game card hand;determining whether the second game card hand is a qualifying card hand;storing an indicator of the qualifying second game card hand received bythe player in association with the player; and rewarding the player if apredefined plurality of the qualifying card hands and the second gamecard hand are associated with the player.
 13. A method of storing anoutcome of a plurality of hands of cards and rewarding a player forreceiving a plurality of qualifying hands, comprising: determiningwhether each of a plurality of hands of cards dealt to a playercomprises one of a plurality of qualifying hands of cards; associatingeach qualifying hand of cards with the player; and providing a reward tothe player if the player receives a predefined plurality of qualifyinghands of cards.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality ofqualifying hands of cards are dealt at a live table game.
 15. The methodof claim 13, wherein the determination of whether each of the pluralityof hands of cards dealt to the player comprises one of a plurality ofqualifying hands of cards includes determining rank and suit of each ofthe cards in the hand.
 16. The method of claim 13, wherein at least twocards in the hand of cards are dispensed together and dealt to theplayer as at least a part of each of the hands of cards.
 17. The methodof claim 13, wherein the association of each qualifying hand of cardswith the player includes associating the qualifying hand with a playeridentification device.
 18. A table game reward system, comprising: aprocessor having instructions which, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to: determine whether each of a plurality of handsof cards dealt to a player comprises one of a plurality of qualifyinghands; associate each qualifying hand with the player; and provide areward to the player if the player receives a predefined plurality ofqualifying hands.
 19. The table game reward system of claim 17, furthercomprising a live table game including a table at which the cards aredealt.
 20. The table game reward system of claim 17, further comprisinga card dispensing device to dispense the cards.
 21. The table gamereward system of claim 12, further comprising a card identificationsensor, wherein the processor includes instructions which, when executedby the processor, cause the processor to interpret information receivedfrom the card identification sensor to determine the identity of each ofthe cards dealt to the player.
 22. A table game reward system,comprising: a card dispensing device; a card reader to sense informationfrom each of a plurality of cards dispensed from the card dispensingdevice; a player identification reader to sense information regarding aplayer; and a processor coupled to the card reader and the playeridentification reader, the processor having instructions which, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to: determine, from theinformation sensed by the card reader, an identity of each of theplurality of cards dispensed from the card dispensing device and dealtto the player; resolve the composition of each of a plurality of handsof cards formed from the plurality of cards dealt to the player;determine, from the information sensed by the player identificationreader, an identity of the player; associate each of the plurality ofhands of cards with the identity of the player; and reward the player ifthe plurality of hands of cards associated with the player include apredefined plurality of qualifying hands.
 23. The table game rewardsystem of claim 22, further comprising a live table game including atable at which the cards are dealt.
 24. The table game reward system ofclaim 22, wherein the card dispensing device dispenses cardsindividually.
 25. A computer readable medium having instructions toprovide a reward for a table game stored thereon which, when executed bya processor, cause the processor to: determine whether each of aplurality of hands of cards dealt to a player includes one of aplurality of qualifying hands; associate each of the plurality of handsof cards that includes one of the qualifying hands with the receivingplayer; and provide a reward to the player if the player has apredefined plurality of qualifying hands associated with the player. 26.The device of claim 25, wherein the computer readable medium is locatedwithin a card shuffler.